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As Shane pulls off the road and onto a well-trodden dusty clearing outside a pale wood farmhouse, I take in another building, a few feet away, made of a similar wood, in the midst of construction.

A group of men I don’t recognize turn from their construction to stare right at us. We’re still a few feet away, but I have my window down a bit. Their scent clues me in that we’re driving toward a pack of shifters.

The front door of the farmhouse swings open and a man wearing black jeans, a black T-shirt, and brown boots walks out.

He smiles when he sees us, pleased.

But I don’t recognize him.

“Who are these people?” I whisper. “Why did you bring me here?”

Shane stops the car and cuts the engine, then unbuckles his seatbelt as he looks at me. “Our fresh start, Aerin. This is where we do things right this time. You, me, and our son.”

4

MACK

It’s 9 a.m. as I stand in the backyard with my back to the wall. The house is quiet as the rest of the pack gets some much needed rest after a long, exhausting night.

Today, we’re going after Aerin and we all need to recharge our batteries before that happens. We’re still no closer to figuring out where Shane took her, but all we have is the link to the Raleighs, and I can only think of one place to look: Karson, Michigan.

I should be sleeping too, but there’s no sleeping with Aerin gone.

I study the white plastic lounger at the bottom of the garden. It’s on its side. Broken. Aerin and I spent countless evenings falling asleep on that thing.

Then I do the thing I came out here to do, and for which I told Bennett I needed to be alone, when he tried to follow me out.

I pull my cell phone from my pocket and speed dial a number I’ve rarely had a reason to dial.

It rings twice.

“Yes.” Moses sounds wide awake.

“Aerin is gone,” I say, still staring at the broken plastic lounger.

I have to get her back and I’m too focused on thinking of the fact she’s pregnant, her powers aren’t working, and I have only guesswork to rely on where she might be. It hasn’t passed me by that we could travel hours to Michigan only to discover she isn’t there at all.

I don’t know what we’d do then.

The pack is inside, ready to do whatever it takes to get her back, but my brain feels sluggish and eyelids heavy.

“One minute.” Moses’s tone doesn’t change.

There’s no hint of pain or disappointment in his tone, and I thought there would be. He loves Aerin. Every time I’ve heard him speak to her, I’ve heard the affection in his voice, and in hers.

I’m not sure if I’m disappointed or surprised. I’m not sure what I’m feeling.

Aerin said he was like a dad to her, giving her time and affection when Douglas Boone, the much respected and often feared Alpha of the Boone Pack, didn’t, which was more often than not.

When the sound of his footsteps echoes down the phone, I imagine he’s gone to deliver the news to Douglas himself.

A door creaks open, and I hear Moses say, “It’s Mack. Something happened to Aerin.”

“The phone.Now,” Douglas demands.

I have no idea what time it is in Minnesota. The time difference is one I knew before but can’t think about now.

“Talk,” Douglas orders.

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